POLLUTION CAP GETS WEALTHY BACKING

Gasoline producers have a new, wealthy opponent to contend with as they fight to delay California’s cap on greenhouse gas emissions for motor fuels in the transportation sector.

Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer announced last week that he will spend money defending California clean air regulations against a bill that would delay the carbon cap on vehicle fuels for three years. Other sectors of the economy, such as electric utilities, already comply by buying a limited supply of pollution allowances.

It’s not clear how much Steyer might spend on the issue. Through the organization NextGen Climate in San Francisco, he has pledged to spend $50 million of his own money and raise $50 million more to help defeat politicians who deny the established science of climate change, targeting key U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections.

Steyer highlighted the cap-and-trade delay, proposed under Assembly Bill 69, in a recent blog post that accused fuel producers of threatening consumers with higher prices at the gas pump in order to get out of cap-and-trade.

“It’s the same menu of tired scare tactics they used four years ago — and it’s still a bunch of baloney,” he wrote, referring to a failed ballot proposition that sought to overturn California’s aggressive clean air goals.

A NetGen Climate representative declined to describe what was in store next.

AB 69 estimates that gasoline prices are likely to rise by 15 cents a gallon as fuel producers pass on cap-and-trade expenses to customers. Proponents say low-income Californians can ill-afford the increase and have sought to portray the cap-and-trade system as a government money grab.

The bill has earned some bipartisan support, but industries already covered by cap-and-trade say it would be unfair and could run up their compliance costs further.

Three-in-four Californians support the inclusion of vehicle fuels, according to an opinion poll in July by the Public Policy Institute of California. The support dropped, however, to 39 percent if the change would lead to higher retail gas prices.

Steyer made his fortune as a hedge fund manger at Farallon Capital Management. He has backed a wide range of clean energy and environmental causes, including efforts to derail the Keystone XL pipeline that would link Canadian sand tar oil deposits to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.